Park Avenue Player(40)

I nodded. “I hate the thought of bringing her to a prison, of her having to see him in that environment. But, as she’s reminded me, she’s seen her father in worse conditions. And the bottom line is, he is her father. The way he dumped her here and disappeared like he did—I have to wonder if she wants to see for herself that he’s okay.”

Elodie looked down at her feet, seemingly lost in thought. When she looked up, I realized it was the first time she’d made eye contact with me in more than a week. “I don’t think I ever told you about my father.”

When I’d interviewed her, she’d said something about a shitty childhood—it was her justification as to why she was the right person for the job. But we’d never discussed anything in detail.

“You’ve mentioned you had a difficult time growing up, like Hailey.”

She nodded and stood a little taller. “Both of my parents are alcoholics. Raging alcoholics. Or were raging alcoholics. Well, technically, I think my mother is still a raging alcoholic—I’m not sure. We aren’t that close, and I don’t really want to know. But I guess that’s irrelevant to the story. Anyway, my dad was a cop, and most of his friends were cops that drank too much, too. Birds of a feather and all.”

She shrugged. “He would think nothing of drinking all afternoon at a friend’s barbecue and then driving us home. I knew right from wrong, but I guess I also figured he was a cop—so that made it okay for him to break the law. The day before my twelfth birthday, we were on our way home from one of those summer barbecues, and my dad was swerving all over the road. He’d had way too much to drink and ended up wrapping our car around a tree. My mom suffered a broken leg and a few broken ribs. I was sitting behind her in the back seat and somehow walked away with nothing more than a few scratches and bruises. But my father didn’t have his seat belt on. He went through the windshield and was thrown over a hundred feet. He broke his neck and was instantly paralyzed.”

“Jesus. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. He was in the hospital for a long time. They actually arrested him and arraigned him there. My mom wanted me to visit him with her, but I was too mad at what he’d done—what they’d both done. Not to mention that I was mortified at school because it was all over the news: disgraced police officer drives drunk and almost kills his family.”

“Did you visit him?”

Elodie shook her head. “Nope. I was stubborn.” She smirked. “I know you’ll have a hard time believing that.”

I smiled. “Yeah. Seems totally out of character now. Because you’re so easy going.”

“Anyway, paraplegics are at risk for a lot of health problems related to being immobile. Thrombosis is one of them. One night, he apparently had some swelling in his arm. The next morning he was dead from a blood clot.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. “And you’d not visited him in the hospital.”

“He was there for five weeks, and I never went.”

“Do you regret it?”

She nodded. “I’m not sure why, but I do. I wish I’d gone even once. Maybe it would’ve helped to have my last memory of my father be him sober and suffering the consequences of his actions. I don’t know. But I’ve always regretted it.”

“I guess I have my answer then.”

Elodie leaned forward and pushed the button to call the elevator. When it arrived, she stepped inside and looked at me sadly. The doors started to close, and I just couldn’t let her go without saying something.

I stuck my hand out and stopped them from sliding shut. “I’m sorry about the mess I made between us. I was wrong to take your underwear. And I was wrong to speak to you the way I did last week when you walked in on my date. You didn’t deserve that.”

She nodded. “Thank you. And I’m sorry I kept the game going and then got mad and ruined your date.”

I reached out my hand as a peace offering. “Friends?”

She hesitated, but eventually put her little hand in mine. “Sure.”

“Thank you.” I nodded and released my hold on the elevator doors.

This time, Elodie stopped them from closing. “Hey, Hollis?”

Our eyes met.

“You know what I’m not sorry about?”

“What’s that?”

“The photo you left on my phone. It’s come in handy.” She let go of the elevator doors and stepped back, flashing me the wickedest grin right before they closed. She wiggled her fingers. “’Night, Hollsy.”

***

The next morning, Hailey was up early again. Apparently, she and Elodie were spending the day doing a photography tour of graffiti around the city. She sat at the kitchen island, eating a bowl of cereal.

I set my empty coffee mug in the sink. “So I thought about what you asked me. I’ll take you to visit your dad if you want.”

Hailey grinned. “Elodie gave you permission, huh?”

The little shit. “Have you ever heard the saying Don’t bite the hand that feeds you?”

“I have. But Elodie feeds me most nights, remember?”

I grabbed my wallet and cell phone from the dining room table. “Don’t be a smartass, Hailey. You know what I mean.”

She jumped down off the stool she was sitting on and walked over to me. Pushing up on her tippy toes, she surprised the shit out of me by kissing my cheek.